North Riding of Yorkshire

The North Riding was fought over during the First Civil War, but the royalists controlled most of the county between their victory at Piercebridge in December 1642 and their catastrophic defeat at Marston Moor in July 1644. Thereafter the royalist garrisons in castles such as Helmsley, Pickering, Scarborough and Bolton were reduced one by one.

Claimants resident in the county

Numbers, types and declared allegiances of claimants

The records for the North Riding comprise 23 royalist petitions and certificates surviving between 1685 and 1701, and a series of 13 quarter sessions order books ranging from 1645 to 1698. They provide details of 412 royalist and 149 parliamentarian claimants, suggesting a far stronger royalist presence in the county. Claimants appear to have been drawn evenly from similar parishes and localities rather than rival sides being concentrated in different parts of the Riding. Unsurprisingly, few claimants are to be found in the remote upland parishes of the Dales west of Richmond, or the North York Moors between Pickering and Whitby. Instead pensioners from both sides were most present in the populous parts of the Riding: the vales of York and Mowbray, and their parishes along the Great North Road. There was a strong royalist presence in a crescent leading northwards through Easingwold, Thirsk, Northallerton and Stokesley. The largest royalist presence occurred in Helmsley, whose castle housed an important royalist garrison.

Gratuities paid in the North Riding of Yorkshire

	Min	Max	Mean	Median	Mode	TOTAL
Maimed Soldiers	1s.	£20	17s. 11d.	10s.	10s.	£273 15s. 1d.
Royalists	2s. 6d.	£10	13s. 9d.	10s.	10s.	£152 9s. 4d.
Parliamentarians	1s.	£20	£1 8s. 11d.	£1	£1	£121 10s. 9d.
War Widows	2s.	£3 6s. 8d.	16s. 11d.	13s. 4d.	£1	£105 12s. 8d.
Royalists	5s.	£1	11s. 4d.	10s.	5s.	£24 18s. 4d.
Parliamentarians	2s.	£3 6s. 8d.	19s. 11d.	£1	£1	£80 14s. 4d.
Other Dependents	0	0	0	0	0	0
Royalists	0	0	0	0	0	0
Parliamentarians	0	0	0	0	0	0
ALL	1s.	£20	17s. 8d.	10s.	10s.	£379 7s 9d.
Royalists	2s. 6d.	£10	13s. 7d.	10s.	10s.	£171 7s. 8d.
Parliamentarians	1s.	£20	£1 4s. 6d.	£1	£1	£202 5s. 1d.

Pensions paid in the North Riding of Yorkshire

	Min	Max	Mean	Median	Mode
Maimed Soldiers	17s. 4d.	£4	£1 8s.	£1	£1
Royalists	17s. 4d.	£4	£1 4s. 10d.	£1	£1
Parliamentarians	£1	£4	£2 4s. 8d.	£2	£2
War Widows	17s. 4d.	£6 10s.	£1 16s. 11d.	£1 14s. 8d.	£2
Royalists	17s. 4d.	£6	£1 8s.	£1 3s.	£1
Parliamentarians	£1	£6 10s.	£2 2s. 5d.	£2	£2
Other Dependents	0	0	0	0	0
Royalists	0	0	0	0	0
Parliamentarians	0	0	0	0	0
ALL	17s. 4d.	£6 10s.	£1 9s. 8d.	£1	£1
Royalists	17s. 4d.	£6	£1 5s. 2d.	£1	£1
Parliamentarians	£1	£6 10s.	£2 2s. 4d.	£2	£2

The average (mean) pensions and gratuities awarded to parliamentarian soldiers and widows were substantially higher than those awarded to their more numerous royalist counterparts after 1660. The county is also unusual in that the mean pension awarded both to parliamentarian and royalist widows was slightly higher than those received by maimed soldiers, although in the royalists’ case this is skewed by the abnormally large pension of £6 per year granted to a Mrs Hindsley of Terrington, likely a gentlewoman and officer’s widow. Parliamentarian widows formed over 40% of total claimants before 1660, but after the Restoration, royalist war widows fell to only 13% of claimants, showing how much more difficult it was for royalist widows to access county relief.

Claimants resident in the county

Numbers, types and declared allegiances of claimants

Gratuities paid in the North Riding of Yorkshire

Pensions paid in the North Riding of Yorkshire

Further Reading